Posts tagged with "Accessories"

In the world we live in, we often find ourselves too busy to appreciate the little things, especially those in our own home. After a long day at work, it’s easy to fall into the habit of viewing the kitchen as simply a functional space, used only for preparing meals.

But, as the focal point in many homes, the kitchen is the perfect space to bring family and friends together and make lasting memories.

For many, our earliest memories probably come from the kitchen. Whether it was in your own, your friends or your grandparents’ home, the kitchen probably played a huge part. Just the thought of baking, licking the spoon or eating that all-important Sunday roast is likely to bring back fond memories.

As the space where many families tend to congregate, the kitchen is the perfect place to bond and connect with both your partner and children. Cooking a meal together, or helping out with some chopping as your partner cooks is a great way to spend time together during the otherwise hectic work week. Baking with the children not only helps create memories, but delicious treats as well.

Even if the children have gotten a little too old to bake with you, a kitchen table makes a great work station to do homework. Something, such as the Magnet Table Plus, is the perfect fold away addition to any kitchen. You could let the children play at their work station, before folding it up and joining the adults at the dinner table. It could even work as a fold away office for yourself.

But of course, the best way of turning your kitchen into a social hub is by getting together for a family meal. After doing the homework, clear the table and eat together. Too often we spend the evening in front of the TV or a computer screen, so eating together at the table is the perfect way to get offline and talk with your loved ones as you reconnect over food.

Pattern in the home can be a great expression of personal style, but it can seem a little daunting in comparison to solid colours.

There are a number of key points to take into consideration when planning with patterns and we will help you to avoid any print-based faux pas.

In terms of wall pattern, start by doing your research. Whilst we might love to follow fashions, choose a pattern that you won’t tire of and see how it works in your space with swatches and samples. If you’ve kept it around for a while and still love it, you’re ready to make the commitment. Always bear in mind the rules of pattern and how they affect your space, for example smaller prints create a more relaxing feel in the home, whilst larger patterns will demand more attention.

The timeless combination of black and white makes for dramatic patterns that will be on-trend for years to come. The simplicity of monochrome will allow you to co-ordinate any patterned pieces seamlessly into the home.

Be prepared that a pattern will often become the focal point of the room, so consider how your furniture and décor will work around this. For example, the bold citrus colours within this Magnet Gloss Integra White splashback are perfectly complemented by the sleek white units.

If you’re not prepared to commit a wall, floor or furniture to pattern, accessories such as ceramics, artwork and lights are a simple yet effective way to experiment with pattern.

The kitchen is a great place to bring in a statement wall or introduce a splash of colour – it is the perfect location to impress your guests and bring some ‘wow’ factor to your home.

For example, the bold citrus colours of the splashback within this Magnet Integra Fusion White kitchen are perfectly complemented by the sleek gloss units.

Celebrities are known for their opulent lifestyles and expensive homes, but what goes into their kitchens? What are the most coveted items the rich and famous have to have?

We’re allowing you an exclusive look into some of the most luxurious kitchens in the world, and giving you hacks to help fake it until you make it.

Tommy Hilfiger is rumoured to be a huge fan of his Miele built-in coffee machine. This self-cleaning appliance makes professional style coffee and is a focal point in celebrity kitchens. If your budget doesn’t stretch so far, create your own coffee bar. Make a statement of your chosen machine with some well-placed stools and your favourite coffee, for an at-home barista experience.

Jennifer Lopez has splashed out on a La Cornue Grand Palais range cooker in her home on the block. The Grand Palais comes with cast iron, steel, solid brass and porcelain enamel as standard and can be custom designed to your exact specifications. If you’re looking for the high-end customised feel from your cooker but aren’t looking to spend like a celeb, Rangemaster cookers come in great shades including red, blue, orange and cream to suit your taste. Add an on-trend, high-end look by hanging chic copper cookware above any oven to draw the eye towards the simple, luxe details.

Celebrities like their kitchens as professional looking as possible, and Justin Timberlake is no exception. As a fan of the SubZero PRO 48 Series, Timberlake’s restaurant-grade fridge-freezer features a dual refrigeration system and signature glass doors. Now, whilst the high street may not offer glass door refrigerators, the overall feel is an uncluttered, editorial look. Fake it with a little savvy fridge organisation, place condiments in neat baskets, cover shelves and store food in stylish Kilner or mason jars for a similar photo-ready feel.

So there may be many aspects of the lifestyles of the rich and famous that we aspire to, but with a little help from Magnet, it’s easier to achieve a celeb-style kitchen than you may think.

At Magnet we love kitchens that showcase your style and what’s important to you, and if you’re a coffee lover, why not show it?

If you start your day with a shot of espresso, or like a late night latte, we have the perfect features for your kitchen.

Magnet’s Coffee Unit is designed to showcase your chosen coffee machine, whether it’s pods, beans or espressos, and integrates perfectly into your kitchen and neatly into your life.

Rather than hiding your machine away, the Coffee Unit is out in the open, complete with elegant glass shelves to store cups, a stunning backlight and handy drawer to store accessories, saving valuable surface space.

You can complete the ultimate coffee experience with stylish, feature-packed freestanding machines from Magnet. AEG and Electrolux models are able to dispense great tasting frothy cappuccinos and smooth, silky lattes whenever you want.

If coffee is your passion, indulge it in style with our innovative machines, displayed in the chic unit as the focal point of any kitchen, making your morning routine even more enjoyable.

There’s such a wide range of appliances available that you’ll be spoilt for choice when looking into the more functional aspects of your new kitchen.

If the kitchen is the heart of the home, then the oven is undoubtedly a key feature. To make the search easier, here at Magnet we’ve compiled our top oven picks to help you in future culinary conquests.

The AEG – BE300360KM is a great choice for the versatile chef and requires minimal cleaning effort as the diamond glazed enamel interior has an easy clean design. This oven has eight great functions including a steam bake and fan controlled defrosting setting. One more thing that this oven is great for is energy efficiency, being one of the most efficient on the market.

For functional family kitchens, the Rangemaster – Classic Deluxe 100 has two ovens and a separate grill, topped with five gas hob zones. The Rangemaster really is a multi purpose oven for when you need to feed the whole family. The nine-function cooker has a total capacity of 150 litres, perfect for households that like to host the Sunday roast.

The Electrolux – EVY5841AAX is a great pick for smaller homes. There’s more than meets the eye with this compact cooker. With 11 different functions, the Electrolux proves that big doesn’t necessarily mean better, as this 44 litre oven is perfect in homes where space is at a premium.

Designing a new home is an exciting job with many choices, so having a checklist to hand is always helpful.

A lot of checklists will tell you which steps to take and everything you need to do throughout the process, but it’s always handy to know what not to do too.

During the design process, it’s normal to look at many places for inspiration, such as magazines and Pinterest. Whilst these are great sources of inspiration, they should be just that. A common mistake is to try and re-create what you have seen in a glossy magazine. The danger here is that the finished product doesn’t always translate from the published image and also that the end result feels a little impersonal. Your rooms make up your home, and not a catalogue or magazine, so use these for ideas to create something that is true to your own style. With Magnet’s QDP tool, you can design a kitchen that is personal to you.

Too much of the same shade is, a common faux pas across both interiors and fashion. When you choose a colour you love, whether it be a sofa or a dress, it seems tempting and easy to try and match everything else in the room or the outfit to this colour. Try to avoid furniture that is all one colour or pattern and will leave the room feeling flat. Ideally, you can choose either contrasting or complementing shades that will break up the space whilst adding depth and variety. Bear in mind the colour ratio rule, 60 - 30 - 10. 60% of the room is your chosen dominant colour, 30% is the secondary colour, saving 10% for accent colours. Metallics make for great accent colours, Magnet’s Newbury Grey demonstrates how well the colour ratio works with stylish copper accents.

Fashions are constantly changing, and when designing interiors it’s normal to want our homes to look up to date. It is good to accessorise your home with on-trend pieces, however be sure to put the most investment into more classic pieces and features rather than anything likely to come and go. Solid wood surfaces in the kitchen for example will add value to your home and have a timeless feel that will prove its worth with any trends that pass through the kitchen.

So with your list of interior to dos, bear in mind these three faux pas to avoid and you will be on your way to designing your dream home.

In previous times, it was a common belief that in interior design, pink should be kept for young girls’ bedrooms. However, recently designers have realised the power of pink and our perception of the colour is being transformed to a more sophisticated and stylish shade, whilst maintaining that cheery feel.

New for 2016, Magnet’s Apollo Cashmere perfectly demonstrates how pink can create a feminine, sophisticated space. The beautiful beige cabinets are paired with pale pink walls to infuse the room with a warming glow, aided by well-placed under cabinet lighting. The clean lines of the high gloss units and classic Nebraska Oak worktops bring a mature elegance to the overall feel, proving that pretty pink can be used in the kitchen too.

Whilst pink can be used as a statement colour, it can actually be very flattering when paired with shades such as taupe, grey or purple. Think of pink the way you would other neutral colours to incorporate it into the home in a more subtle way. This option makes for a much more delicate, light feel, where the alternative could be a rich and dramatic feature wall for example.

The love for pink has also given rise to the huge trend for all things copper or rose gold in recent years. A trend that seems to be here to stay, copper and rose gold has out-done other metallics recently, from interiors and kitchen accessories to clothing and jewellery. Take a look at our copper kitchen Pinterest board here for inspiration.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with the colour, there is a lot of inspiration out there, as pink is becoming more and more versatile within interiors.

The Shelf Plus is a Magnet Innovation built to organise and declutter worktops.

The sleek innovation can be mounted to the wall or sit helpfully on a worktop surface. Shelf Plus is a simple way to organise your space or showcase your favourite kitchen pieces.

With interchangeable surfaces, you have the flexibility to adapt the shelf. Choose from a wooden tray platform where you can add plant pots, drawers, and knife racks, or keep it sleek with the simple glass top surface.

Increase organisation by keeping your most used kitchen tools and accessories at arms reach for easy access and increased efficiency when cooking. Cookery books, tea and coffee canisters, knives and even herbs all look great on display on the Shelf Plus. Herbs work especially well, with custom designed plant pots that sit within the top level of the Shelf Plus. You can bring a bit of life into the kitchen with some lush green basil for example.

If you wish to keep it firmly functional, consider the addition of drawers into the Shelf Plus for even more valuable storage space. The knife block insert is also a smart way to store sharp kitchen knives, slotting them horizontally onto the wooden board and keeping them out of view and reach of children.

On the other hand, Shelf Plus provides a great platform to show off your favourite decorative kitchen accessories. From flowers, to your favourite glassware or ornamental pieces, give them pride of place on the Shelf Plus and they’re guaranteed to elicit compliments.

Those with smaller kitchens, will appreciate that in modern times we need our space to work harder for us. The kitchen is an incredibly multifunctional room so why shouldn’t this extend to the furniture?

The demand for space-saving, multifunctional furniture has lead to a niche trend of modular furniture. Pre-made units can be combined in different ways to build modular furniture, often for functional purposes such as cabinet/desk combinations. This is seen as a home solution as it can operate as a variety of different products.

Similarly, Magnet’s Table Plus is a dual-purpose innovation, perfect for a kitchen that functions both as a cooking and dining area. The fold down table is mounted on the wall and easily concealed by folding back into the wall. When in its folded position, the Table Plus forms a handy storage cabinet, perfect for keeping any dining equipment you might need when the table is in use. When unfolded, the Table Plus is a great space to snack, drink and spend time with friends or family.

Even larger kitchens should make the most of their space. If your kitchen is large enough for a central island, consider extending the worktop surface to create a chic breakfast bar area for dining and relaxing, as seen in the Leighton Gloss Cream. The extended Walnut worktop provides extra space, making this island much more than extra surface area to prepare food, and by featuring the kitchen’s hob on the island also, it becomes a sophisticated serving area.

There are many multifunctional options to consider for your home, and space is valuable, so be sure that your furniture is as practical as it is stylish.

Make a dye bath using hot water and fabric dye, you should also pre-wash your napkins, but don’t let them dry before beginning the process. The basic method is to repeatedly dip and remove the napkin from the dye bath, firstly to the maximum point you would like the dye to reach, gradually working your way down. Dip each level for around 4 minutes and add a slightly darker dye for your very last dip. Once completed, run the napkin under cold water – running the colour away from the white. There you will have an original set of napkins that are sure to receive many compliments at the dinner table.

Unused Mason jars are a great staring point if you’re new to hacking, there are endless ways to upcycle this kitchen basic. Some will use them for storage, mounting them to the wall as a space saving hack, or dress them in chalk paint to use as charming plant pots.

However, for an even more personal touch, Mason jars actually make wonderful oil candles. All you will need is the empty jar, oil, a floating candlewick and whatever delicious smelling ingredients you wish to add. Vegetable oils are a great base, but infuse them with stunning scents from essential oils, or even raid your spice rack for cinnamon and vanilla to make them unique. You can include decorative features within the oil too, such as berries and pinecones or fake flowers for a seasonal feel. The finished product makes an incredible centrepiece and can be filled with your favourite flavours and accessories making it truly personal.

If your kitchen has a rustic, traditional feel you will love the reused rake wine glass holder. Take the forked end of a rake, new or old depending on your kitchen style, and mount on the wall with prongs to the bottom and voilà! You can slide the stems of your wine glasses in-between prongs and keep them suspended, well within reach following a long day.

To see more examples of our favourite upcycling creations, take a look at our Pinterest board here for inspiration. Happy hacking.